How to prepare your property for estate agent photos

Selling your home can be a big deal. Whether you’re excited about the prospect of moving somewhere different, or the idea terrifies you, prepping your property ready for estate agent photos can be daunting.

What if your home doesn’t sell because it looks terrible in the pictures? Does it matter if you can see the washing hanging out of the basket?

Once you’ve found an estate agent, they’ll want to come to your home and take lots of photos ready to show to potential buyers.

I’m here to give you the lowdown on those dreaded estate agent photos and how you can present your house in its best light.

 

Get rid of the clutter

Okay, this is probably going to be the hard bit, but potential buyers want to see the house, NOT all the toys your children have owned since 2014.

Everything should be put away, surfaces should be clear. Even if (dare I say) you shove it all in a cupboard for the purpose of the estate agent photos and take it all back out again later. Yes, that really is my advice. You may even want to move your bins to somewhere they won’t be accidentally photographed.

Below is a house that I saw on a home selling website from where I live up in Chester. I couldn’t believe it. The photos are terrible quality (normally because you can actually take them yourself nowadays). It’s hard to tell which part of the house you’re looking at. AND THE MESS.

There’s stuff left over on the table from breakfast (note the bottle of ketchup and half a loaf of bread above). It looks like the house has beautiful bi-folding doors but that’s not really what I focus on – it’s all the other stuff around them.

The below house isn’t too bad, but again there’s too much clutter for me.

There’s still clean dishes on the draining board which I would have put away. The bin seems to be in the middle of the kitchen floor and there’s a washing basket by the washing machine which also looks to be full. Now that I’m really looking, is it just me or do those kitchen units look like they’ve been primed and not painted?!

However, the one thing this house has done right is….

 

Flowers!

Yep, flowers. I’d suggest buying three bunches for your estate agent photos. One for the dining table, one for the coffee table and one for a chest of drawers in the bedroom.

It is amazing what a bunch of flowers can do to a space and they don’t have to be mega expensive ones either.

If you have a family birthday coming up, you could even use the flowers for your shoot and then pass them off as a present (but DON’T tell anyone I told you that).

 

Get rid of any sign you live there

Potential buyers who are coming to look at your property want to be able to imagine themselves living there. In order for them to do this, you should remove any personal family photos you might have.

Any photos of landscapes, cityscapes or other general items can be kept.

 

Clean, clean, clean

If you really want to make your home look amazing, it’s all about the small details. Clean the windows inside and out, dust your skirting board and light fittings, bleach your tile grout, polish taps and mirrors. These things all matter. You’ll kick yourself if you notice something in the final photos that you could have cleaned.

It’s not just about cleaning the inside but also the outside. Can you see weeds growing between the paving and moss on the guttering? These kinds of details should be thought about too.

 

If you’re still debating whether to put your home on the market or not, you may want to find out what your home is worth. It could be the deciding factor for you (or you might just be curious like me).